


All In Your Heart

by inkkedalone



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universes, Angst, Character Death, Fluff, Internalized Homophobia, Multi, Multiverse Theory, Roman!Leo, Roman!Lou Ellen, Roman!Luke, Roman!Piper, Violence, clarisse/silena, hazel/leo, i re-read TLO and honestly percy was kind of a jerk to my dude nico so, jason/annabeth, minor profanity, percy doesnt get memory loss bc i think that's kind of pointless, rachel/reyna, roman!Nico, roman!Percy, ships are not the main focus but nico/percy is endgame, tags will be added as they appear in the story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-01-29 17:31:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12635793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkkedalone/pseuds/inkkedalone
Summary: Just before Luke Castellan heaves his final breath, Percy finds himself whisked away to another universe, switching places with another version of himself. While not knowing if his friends are okay or not, the son of Poseidon joins forces with a Roman Nico, a nine year-old Luke, a rambunctious Leo, and a few others to stop yet another sleeping immortal from rising in this new world. Everything is different in the two realities, but as they both fight to save their own selves, the demigods from both universes realize that nothing will ever be quite the same after their latest adventure. [yeah,,this is discontinued folks]





	1. A Confused Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to update at least twice every month. I hope you enjoy it!

" _Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it… Don't let it happen again." Luke Castellan's eyes held a pleading anger._

" _I won't. I promise,” was the last thing that the son of Hermes heard._

That was the last thing that Percy Jackson remembered before he passed out in a wave of excruciating pain.

In his state of unconsciousness, Percy dreamt of Annabeth and of more pain. He was dead—something had killed him, he was sure of it. He just hoped that someone would remember his legacy and that his mom wasn't too angry with him when she didn't see the blue signal he had promised her. He sighed mentally, ignoring the tight clench in his chest. His life flashed before his eyes, and it was a pity to say that it wasn't the first time that it had happened, and it wouldn't even be close to the last.

"Wake up." A voice he didn't recognize suddenly rang in his ears. So he wasn't dead after all. He didn't know if he should be relieved or scared.

Percy groaned and propped himself up on his forearms. He peeked his eyes open to reveal a beautiful teenage girl with brown skin and multicolored eyes that could only belong to a daughter of Aphrodite. Her facial features held that of Native American descent, and her chestnut-colored hair was choppily cut and braided. She was sporting a purple t-shirt with the letters "SPQR" printed dead in the center. It looked like she tried to dull down her beauty. Percy didn't think she succeeded.

"Who are you? Did we win? Where's Annabeth?" He blurted out the first thoughts that came to his mind, which was a little embarrassing. His voice was hoarse. The girl handed him a quizzical glance as he cleared his throat.

"Yeah, we won. But who in the world is _Annabeth_ , Perseus?"

"Percy. My name is Percy, uh…"

"Piper McLean. Temporary Praetor, but not anymore since you're back, _Percy._ " The young woman said his name like it was the strangest thing she had ever heard. She looked down at the son of Poseidon's lap with a sympathetic expression. "I should probably leave you two alone now. Feel free to take your time. Love the new hairdo by the way." She winked at him before moving away. Percy didn't think he understood a single word of what she had just said, but as the girl walked out of the door, he noticed what looked like a pattern of ink on one of her forearms, but by then, she was too far away for him to properly make it out or to question it, already being halfway across the room.

Speaking of the room, Percy felt out of place in his current location. The walls around him were white, with columns there and in between, peeking out from velvet drapes. It felt like a gigantic camping tent, but indoors. (He knew that Annabeth would have loved the design of it; she probably would have pointed out every angle and spout off architectural math terms like a whistling kettle.) The floor was a polished marble. Paintings and sculptures of various historic figures decorated the empty spaces along with a couch and a flat-screen TV. It looked like a bedroom for a billionaire who really needed to consult his local interior designer.

On a nightstand next to himself was a gray canteen that looked like the ones you'd find in the outdoors section at a supermarket. There was an empty glass standing next to it. The bed that Percy was currently lying on was centered on one wall and was decorated with purple sheets and a black comforter. Percy decided that the color of the sheets weren't as important as the boy who was snoozing halfway in his lap. It was Nico di Angelo. The son of Hades looked like he was sitting in a wooden chair that was next to the bed before he had dozed off and fell into Percy's lap somewhere along the way. His position didn't look to comfortable, and it was weird, to say the least. But after five years of battling the Greek titan of time and his armies, nothing could really faze the teen anymore.

At a closer glance, Nico looked vastly different than the last time Percy had seen him, which was just halfway through battle on the streets of Manhattan. An unfamiliar violet cloak that matched the hue of the sheets was wrapped around his body. His mop of dark hair had grown longer, just an inch or two past his shoulders, and his skin had gotten much tanner, a contrast from his previous pale skin that had almost looked sickly. It made the older teen wonder how long he had been out of it. The Nico he saw now was closer to the Nico that Percy had first met at Westover Hall, just older. He looked _healthy,_ for once _._ And in his sleep, the boy looked truly at peace. Percy couldn't help but smile, even if he was still slightly mad at Nico for betraying him. He did regain his trust by bringing an undead army back to support the gods though, so that certainly helped.

Nico stirred in his lap, murmuring something about war strategies. Percy froze, not knowing what to do. The son of Hades took some minutes to rouse completely from the land of sleep, pushing himself off of Percy's legs and rubbing cutely at his eyes. The warmth that he had provided on his lap disappeared. The cloak fell off his shoulders, flaring out behind him in its full glory. It revealed a lithe body underneath metal armor that was adorned with various medals. A long purple robe that kind of reminded Percy of a toga was hanging off one of his shoulders at a diagonal, only showing part of Nico's silver breastplate. But even with that, Percy could tell that Nico had gained quite a bit of muscle mass. The violet color seemed to be a popular theme around here.

Nico was also sporting a tattoo that looked similar to the one on Piper. Percy got a closer look at it, finally: it was a hieroglyph-like symbol with four lines under it, along with the same set of letters, SPQR. At a closer look, the emblem on Nico's forearm didn't look like a regular tattoo—it looked like it had been _burned_ into his skin. Percy was starting to wonder if the boy had joined a cult.

Once the younger saw that the elder was awake, he smiled. A real, genuine smile, aimed directly at the son of Poseidon, teeth and all. Percy almost wanted to turn around and check behind him just to make sure that Nico wasn't looking at a hellhound or something, but he had literally just been looking around the room, so it wouldn't have been much help. It was slightly unsettling, kind of adorable, in a strange deathly sort of way.

"Uh...hi?" he said dumbly.

"Welcome back, Seaweed Brain," Nico replied affectionately, voice laced with exhaustion. Percy took note of the heavy bags under his eyes. Seaweed Brain? Only Annabeth ever called him… Suddenly, soft lips pressed against his cheek before he could fully complete his thought. What in Poseidon's underwear was _happening_?

Nico pulled away, the dopey grin still lingering on his countenance. Percy shifted awkwardly, causing the boy's grin to fall away. "I-I'm sorry, you probably just woke up and—"

"No, it's...fine," Percy insisted. (It was actually not really fine, but the pout on Nico's face made it hard to say anything negative. Damn that boy. His face could really be used as a weapon when he really wanted it to.) There was an uncomfortable silence before Percy broke it. "What happened? Is everyone alright?" He didn't mention Annabeth this time.

Nico's deep, coffee-brown eyes darkened with pain. Percy tensed—that was never a good sign, for any demigod, really. The boy started to speak: "After you defeated Krios, I turned away to topple the throne. Piper was supposed guarding us, but Beckendorf was distracting her. I swear, Perseus, I only looked away for literally a minute to break the stupid chair, but you vanished when I turned back around. You've been missing for two whole months until Leo found you floating down the Little Tiber."

With each sentence, Percy's eyes got wider and wider until he thought they were going to pop out of his own head. Nico seemed unnerved, even more so when Percy said, "I didn't get any of that." There was another pause.

"Listen, man. I don't know what you just said, but what happened to _me_ before I passed out was this: We had the whole Manhattan battle with the titan armies and stuff, and then I went up to Olympus to try to defeat Kronos just like you told me to—Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, and me. Annabeth got to Luke. She brought him back. And I made him a promise—to keep all the unclaimed demigods safe. And then, and then I think he d-died. And then I, you know, bonked out." Nico's face soon mirrored Percy's. "And also," the boy added, "You _know_ I hate being called Perseus. It's _Percy_ , di Angelo." He didn't mention the fact that Charles Beckendorf was also very much dead.

Nico slowly rose from his seat next to the elder demigod. His eyes were hard steel and he held himself coldly. Suddenly, his Stygian Iron sword appeared out of the shadows into his hand. He pointed it at Percy with a look that could kill, but his hands were shaking. "You are _not_ Perseus Jackson. Who are you, _inimicus?_ "

Percy didn't interpret the last word, but opted to raising his hands in defense. "Nico, chill. We need to talk this out, not aim swords at my throat. I'm just as confused as you are, dude." Despite his words, he felt Riptide get heavier in his pocket. At least that one thing was the same. The younger teen's eyes narrowed, but there was a faint hint of softness to them.

"Fine." Nico waved his hands, and suddenly Percy's wrists snapped together with a black shadow, bound.

"Cool party trick," Percy joked anxiously. "Since when could you do that?" Riptide felt like it was burning a hole through his pants. Percy resisted the urge to reach for it.

"Since after my sister died." Percy choked on his breath. " _My_ Perseus has seen me do that multiple times before." He sounded more hurt than angry. Percy didn't say anything else after that, at least not until someone else entered the room. It was Rachel, but her frizzy hair was cut into a short bob, and it was straightened. She looked drained, and there wasn't an ounce of paint on her like Percy was used to. Better yet, she was wearing armor—full fledged, monster-fighting armor. Percy was impressed and bewildered at the same time.

Another girl was with her. She had a familiar face as well, but Percy couldn't remember her name. Her hair was a brown so dark that it was almost black. Both her and Rachel had the tattoo trend, but instead of the weird hieroglyph symbol that Nico had, Rachel had a lyre, and the other girl had two torches with an 'X' over them. The latter's skin was pale but healthy, and her eyes reminded Percy of olives. And olives reminded him of Annabeth.

"You summoned us, Praetor di Angelo?" Rachel spoke. Her voice had lost her usual cheery undertone, the one she held even when she was dead on her feet, and her speech was formal, yet mocking. It was freaky, and Percy still had no idea what a Praetor was, but apparently Nico was one of them. He wondered when Nico had called them. They had been watching each other the entire time.

Rachel's gaze trailed to his bound hands. "What's wrong with him?" Her eyes held not an ounce of sympathy, but the other girl's did.

"Rachel." The girl held up her hand a bit sassily, signaling for her to stop. The redhead looked offended. Percy had never seen the mortal act so...arrogant. It was another anomaly that threw him off his game. "He doesn't need your ignorance." Rachel sniffed and her hand went to rest on her scabbard. Yeah, Rachel apparently wielded a sword now too.

The olive girl strolled hesitantly to Percy. "My name is Lou Ellen Blackstone, and this is Rachel. Do you remember us?"

"Kind...of?" The girl nodded. Ah, now he remembered. She had fought on the other side of the war; a daughter of Hecate. He was grateful that the gods had given them apparent mercy. Yet he still tensed even more. He felt like a violin that had been strung way too tightly.

"Lou Ellen, right?" She didn't answer his question.

"May I touch you?"

Percy gulped nervously, but she seemed sincere enough. "Uh, sure?" Before anyone could move, Lou Ellen placed her hand onto Percy's touch sparked hot, prickling pain and was also glowing a little bit green. The feeling was similar to his first bout of pain before he ended up where he was, except lesser. Percy initially thought he could handle it, but soon he was panting in exhaustion. Lou Ellen noticed after a minute or two and quickly removed her hand.

"Sorry," she muttered apologetically before pouring a glass of whatever-juice from the canteen on the nightstand. It came out silvery. At Percy's suspicious squint, she reassured, "It's diluted watered unicorn draught."

"What now?"

The woman waved him off. "It'll heal you. Just drink it." He drank it while giving her his best " _I'll kill you if you try to kill me_ " look. He didn't think she got the message.

"This _is_ Perseus, but not the Perseus that we know. I think that he is from an alternate reality," she explained.

"I go by Percy," he clarified. Lou Ellen nodded in understanding.

"Right. It's nice to meet you Percy. We have a _lot_ of things to figure out."

"Great," he groaned. "I just _love_ thinking." Lou Ellen offered him a sympathetic grin.

She offered to explain first. Percy was glad. It would give him a chance to build out his surroundings if he needed to escape. "Somehow, you must have gotten transported to our world from your own. Maybe from some major event that happened. Or maybe you're a dream projection that isn't Misted. Wait, you _are_ a demigod right?"

Percy nodded before replying, still trying to get used to the idea, "But like, I'm pretty sure I'm not dreaming right now. It doesn't have that _end of the world_ feel."

Lou Ellen cracked a half-smile. "Maybe we have a lot less explaining than we thought."

She continued, "I'm a daughter of Trivia, if you didn't know already." She stuck out her hand in a greeting, or a formal truce. Percy shook it. She had a nice, firm grip. He let go quickly despite the fact that she seemed nice enough.

"Trivia…" Percy pondered. "Don't you mean Hecate?"

"Er, not exactly. Hecate is Greek. Trivia is Roman. But they're essentially the same goddess, but since Camp Jupiter is full of Romans, we respect their Roman aspects."

"Roman? I've never heard of Roman demigods, but _my_ dad is Poseidon. I'm Greek, and I go to Camp _Half-Blood_. I know that. Unless Poseidon and everyone else has been lying to me the entire time."

Rachel's eyes widened, but her tone was still forward. "You mean you've contacted your father before?"

Percy shrugged. "Yeah. But you know, I only got to since I'm the 'Child of the Prophecy' and all." Percy made quotation gestures with his hands. "I doubt I would have ever even made it to camp—er, _my camp_ , if I wasn't part of the stupid thing."

Lou Ellen nodded, not questioning the part about the prophecy. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned that. "Alright, that makes sense. The Perseus from this universe is a son of Neptune." Percy saw Rachel scowl at the mention of Neptune. Geez.

"He's Roman, for sure. He belongs at this camp, and he was also part of a prophecy. But he's never met his dad, and his mom died before he even got to camp."

His breath hitched. Percy couldn't imagine a life without Sally Jackson. She was what kept him going through all the last years. He could see Nico's eyes let down another barrier. He seemed to have a lot of those. His cold spell finally lifted completely.

"Perseu—Percy, are you alright?"

"Yeah. I just feel bad for your dude. My mom's always been there for me." The Greek didn't need to dwell on subjects that would cause more impulsive thinking than he was already used to. He quickly changed the topic. "So what's this about a Roman camp?"

"Ah yes. Right now, you're at Camp Jupiter. We'll introduce you to our cohorts and get you set up about Roman culture and history once the gods approve of you. You'll also be on _probatio,_ assuming you'll make it to the Legion. But I have a feeling they will. You'll probably be here for a while."

"What do you mean, ' _once the gods approve of me?'_ "

"All new recruits for camp have to either have recommendation papers from someone who served in the Legion, or they have to be approved by the main gods of Rome."

"Uh, which gods, specifically?"

"Well, you'll first go to the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus to be decided as a worthy hero or not, and then afterwards, you'll get chosen by one of our five cohorts to serve in."

"Well, that's nice." Percy's tone was heavily sarcastic. After getting a questioning hum from Lou Ellen, he explained. "Back at home, I was born from a broken pact of the gods, so Zeus kind of hates my guts…?"

Rachel snickered at Lou Ellen's downcast expression. "Oh. Well, I'm sure you'll be fine, Percy. You were brought here for a reason, you know." He grinned halfheartedly.

"I hope Perseus is in my universe," he said after another pause. His own name rolled off his tongue strangely as he tried to comfort his new Roman acquaintances.

"That is probable. But we would also have to know if these two camps are parallels or two totally different ones."

"What now?" Percy felt useless.

"Just answer this question. Are there Romans in your world?"

"I-I don't know. We were in the middle of a war. I never really considered it." Percy wished Annabeth were here. She could have sorted things out easier.

"Hey, it's okay." Lou Ellen sympathized. She sounded like she related to his pain, or maybe he just looked really frustrated. Nico had mentioned that their Percy—Perseus had just battled Krios, so maybe they had a war of their own too? "We'll just have to see if there are Greeks in our world. We thought they died out over a century ago, and even then, us Romans haven't been exactly searching for our greatest demigod enemies."

"That's...great…" Percy's tone was dejected.

"Right." Nico's voice sounded solemn as he gave his approval.

Percy put a hand on his shoulder. Nico's dark eyes flitted up to him—they were watery. "He meant a lot to you, didn't he." It wasn't a question. "I'm sure you'll get him back soon," the son of Poseidon assured awkwardly, even if he still only had a vague idea as to what was really happening.

"It'll be fine, Niccoló. He's safe, I can feel it." Lou Ellen comforted him with a care that Percy had never provided with his own Nico. It made his heart feel heavy with guilt. He had lost so many friends, allies, just _demigods_ in general, to the war against Kronos. He sighed quietly. It was a true fact that he was responsible for many of them, and some could most likely have been avoided, if he had just tried harder. The fact that he didn't even know if his other friends were okay made him feel devastatingly empty.

"Well. It's good to know that we have a _graceus_ in our Camp now. At least that old son of Neptune was _Roman_." Rachel snorted, voice laced with cruelty. Percy had a feeling that she just insulted him.

He was about to defend himself before Lou gave him a look, like _I got this_. "That son of Neptune was your _Praetor_ , Dare!"

The daughter of Trivia turned back to Percy. "Don't mind her. She's just a really petty legacy of Apollo."

"Legacy?"

"Somewhere in her lineage lays the blood of Apollo, but she's not full demigod. Just mortal. Camp Jupiter takes legacies in since they're really no different than the rest of us. They just don't have powers."

"Mhm-hm." Rachel held her head high. Apparently it was something to be proud of.

"Cool. I wonder if my Rachel is a legacy; it would explain her artsy-ness."

Roman Rachel pursed her lips. "I hate drawing." Percy shivered. He had a feeling that this version of Rachel and him weren't going to get along very well.

He glanced at Nico before quickly switching his gaze to the floor. Percy couldn't help it; every time he looked at the boy, his heart felt like it was being squeezed by a hydraulic press. His palms started to sweat. Another strong wave of guilt ran over him, but this time it was almost completely overwhelming. His Nico could have had a brighter, better, happier future. If Bianca had lived, Nico wouldn't have lost his innocence so soon. He wouldn't have been tormented—by both Percy and the mythical pantheon. Words swirled around in his head, clustering and screaming at different volumes, all telling him the same general idea. _If only you had tried harder._

_Percy…_

_No please, I d-didn't mean to. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm—_

" _Percy!"_

A hand gently slapped his cheek. He jolted, almost like he was in physical pain. His eyes flitted up to olive orbs. Lou Ellen, right.

"You okay, buddy? We kinda lost you there."

Percy sucked in a sharp breath before nodding reassuringly. "Yeah. I'm good. Fine. Just…thinking of the past, I guess." He couldn't look them in the eye.

Nico was silent. Rachel yawned. "Alright," Lou said, a bit hesitantly. "Let's get you to the auguries."

"Auguries?" He croaked.


	2. A Confused Beginning, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since it was a Greek Percy that landed in a different universe, it would make sense for Roman Percy to take his place.

"Percy, Percy. Gods, please wake up, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth pleaded to Percy's unconscious body, shaking him with fervor. Luke was dead and Kronos had been defeated roughly seven months ago. The daughter of Athena was crying, ruining the makeup that she had put on for the celebration of rebuilding Olympus—and wiping her nose on her sleeve. It was a pitiful sight, Nico thought from the corner of the infirmary as he lurked in the shadows. Tears threatened to spill down his own face, but he kept his emotions stable as he ran his eyes over the son of Poseidon and ignored the all too familiar pang in his chest as he watched the two demigods.

As he had confirmed with Annabeth over a hundred times, Nico knew that Percy wasn't dead. The harpies had found the son of Poseidon floating up the coast, body matted with salt and sand after he had suddenly disappeared from Olympus. Chiron was immediately notified and had signaled for Apollo campers to move him to the infirmary. The hero had been heaved through camp on a stretcher just as Nico had come back from a mission for his dad. Nico's stay was only supposed to be a quick stop, just long enough for him to grab a biscuit or something and then leave for the Romans, who had arguably treated him better as the Ambassador of Pluto rather than the outcasted son of Hades. He had dropped his biscuit, wasting it when he discovered the Savior of Olympus and sneaked after the stretcher with a hopeful feeling. But was kind of hard to follow and be sneaky at the same time when there was the biggest crowd surrounding the stretcher—he had lost them at some point and just locked himself up in his cabin.

Annabeth had been the next person to be told, as he had seen a smaller crowd at the Athena cabin calling for her. And then Nico by that wary Annabeth, probably only to see if Percy was actually still alive. The Apollo kids had checked for a pulse to confirm it for second time and sung a few hymns before leaving to tell everyone the news.

At a glance, the son of Poseidon looked like he always did to any demigod that had known him. But his hair had grew long, longer than it should have been when only seven months had passed since the end of the war. It went down to his shoulder-blades, all tangled and disheveled. There were also a number of cuts and bruises on his body, which was normal for all demigods and kids in general—and they were already halfway healed due to the ocean water. But that wasn't the strange part. Percy shouldn't have been injured, unless somehow _,_ he had _lost_ the Curse of Achilles. Nevertheless, despite all the abnormalities, the body in the water was still clearly Percy, even if something strange did happen to him.

Nico finally left after watching the daughter of Athena furiously attempt to wake the teen for over an hour. It was too painful to watch, so he decided that it was time that Sally Jackson knew that her son was actually alive. The son of Hades quietly shadow-traveled to Percy's mother's apartment in a sudden haste and paused to take a breath before knocking. He had almost mastered his use of the travel form at this point, but it was still pretty tiring, especially when he had less than a few hours to rest.

Paul Blofis was the one to open the door. "Oh?" he said, surprised. "You're one of...Percy's friends?" The man said his name like it was something that he had long forgotten and had just remembered, brow crinkling with interest. Only the teeniest hint of recognition shone in his eyes as he looked at the son of Hades. Nico didn't think that the mortal would remember fighting next to him next to the Empire State Building, but he appreciated that he did.

The man before him looked like a disaster. Paul's salt and pepper like hair was seriously unkempt, like he had forgotten to go the salon or even to run a comb through it, and his beard was wildly outgrown. Dark circles lined the edges of his tired eyes, but they didn't look too different from Nico's own. He looked like the very definition of exhausted.

"Let me see her," Nico demanded in his quiet voice, still breathing heavily from his effort earlier.

The mortal didn't say anything more as he hastily stepped aside to allow the demigod to pass through. Inside, the apartment was a total mess. Dirty paper plates were scattered on the kitchen counter, the coffee table was wet with spilled coffee, used tissues were strewn about haphazardly, and the TV was lying crooked on the floor, like someone had pushed it off the stand in a fit of frustration. Pictures of Percy from various points of his life were gathered together on an end table in the corner of the room like a memorial shrine. Like Sally had accepted that her son was dead.

Nico ignored the pitiful sight as best he could while trying to keep a straight face, but his nose couldn't help but to scrunch up a bit when he passed an open pizza box that had to have been at _least_ a week old. Paul led him to the bedroom completely unfazed—probably having gone completely noseblind, where Percy's mom was hunched over a box of tissues and crying silently on the bed. Her hair was streaked with gray strands and her shoulders were shaking. Nico softened and went over to her, placing his icy cold hand on hers. She didn't flinch or even seem to notice his presence. Nico had expected that—grief could do that to people. Instead of explaining who he was or beating around the bush, he got straight to the point.

"Sally, we found him." His voice had lost its usual hostile undertone that he usually used with the rest of the world as he spoke to the young man's mother.

She looked up at him so fast that Nico thought that the poor mortal would get whiplash. Sad, hopeful eyes peered through his soul, painfully reminding him of how he looked when Bianca died. Her cheeks were tear-stained, and her eyelashes were dusted with fresh drops. At least Percy wasn't actually dead. Her voice was raspy, probably from all the sobbing, as she spoke; "Take me to my son."

"You guys can take the Prius," Paul started, but Nico shook his head as he helped Sally get up from the bed.

"I think we'll manage, Mr. Blofis."

Nico smiled sadly at Percy's mother and gripped her hand tighter. "Hold on tight," he said, as the shadows sucked them in. Paul waved at them with a mildly shocked expression as the two were engulfed in darkness.

It probably wasn't a very smart idea to shadow-travel with a mortal, but Nico prayed for the best as they entered the realm of shadows. Sally's grip tightened mercilessly around his fingers as the darkness pulled at their souls, screaming insanity. He shivered, still not used to the unbearable cold that it always brought. The woman's hair whipped around like a storm, not letting him see her face, but he felt her pulse beat rapidly in the back of his mind. At least it wasn't killing her.

They arrived at Camp Half-Blood in a split second. Nico muttered an allowance for the mortal to pass the borders just before they got there, lest he wanted the harpies to violently escort her out. The middle-aged woman switched to a two handed grip on his forearm, strong enough that it would probably bruise. He refrained from wincing, instead bringing a hesitant hand to her back, steadying her wobbling as with his own. "Wow," she exclaimed after a few moments. "That was really...cool." Like mother like son, Nico guessed, as he remembered a comment that Percy had said when he shadow-traveled with Nico for the first time.

They entered the Big House after a couple minutes. As Sally allowed him to lead her along, he noticed that she didn't really look around the place just to _look_ , but her eyes eyes wandered, blank with hope. They passed Chiron in his full centaur form, who gave an approving nod at Nico's initiative. Mr D. was snoring on the couch, which wasn't all too surprising; the god of wine had never really cared about anything. Sally gave a light halfhearted wave to the teacher, but her mind was only on her son. Nico opened the door to the infirmary, where Percy was currently the only patient. He was still knocked out, but Annabeth was now sniffling pitifully instead of full out sobbing. Her eyeliner mixed with her tears and her eyeshadow had smeared. She looked like a melting panda.

"Ms. Jackson—Sally, I'm so sorry—"

Tears welled up again in the woman's eyes at the sight of her son. "Is he—"

" _Not while I'm here._ "

It could've been a lie, but the son of Poseidon's heart was barely beating in the back of Nico's mind. "His heart. Call for the healers!" Nico desperately shouted at Annabeth, rushing to the older teen's side, wrenching out of Sally's death grip. He grabbed the man's right hand, ignoring the bright blush that came to his face as he did so, and sent a prayer to every god in existence. He handled his powers best he could, using the shadows to slow down the path of death for the son of Poseidon. Sally ran over to the other side of son, gasping and sobbing between words. "Percy, Percy. Please sweetie, hold on."

Three more people entered the room in less than a few minutes. Annabeth, Will, and Kayla...? He couldn't really remember their names. The Apollo campers, he assumed they were, came in with ambrosia and nectar, along with various other medical supplies. "Please back up a bit," Kayla told them, as Will began to sing another hymn. Everyone who wasn't a healer reluctantly stepped backwards. Golden strings of healing light flowed from the Will's hands as he pressed them to his patient's chest in a standard CPR procedure. Nico found the light to be a mocking contrast to his own waves of dark shadows. Kayla handed a cup of nectar to the daughter of Athena, prompting her to feed it to the son of the sea god. She did, albeit shakily.

"Lord Apollo, please have mercy," Kayla prayed to her father in between song verses. "Give the hero his chance at life."

Miraculously, after a few more moments of singing, praying, and devastated sobbing, Percy finally gasped loudly and started to cough violently. His heart rate went back to what it had previously been. Annabeth quickly helped him to sit up and Will started to press a glass of water into his hand, but it was knocked away, breaking glass and spilling over the sheets and floor. Nico watched warily as healer gasped in surprise, Will glaring accusingly at the son of Poseidon.

He had opened his eyes, but they looked different from any other time that Nico had seen them. They were a pair scared and confused blue-green hurricanes trapped inside foggy glass orbs, so different from his usual calm sea. It was like lightning crackled inside his corneas as his blank gaze flickered around the room. It was beautifully ethereal in a deathly sort of way, but Nico had no time to get lost in them like he sometimes did as a scream suddenly tore through Percy's lips, body suddenly alight with pure pain and suffering. His eyes instantly snapped shut again as his frame arched like it was being shocked with a thousand volts of electricity, falling back onto the infirmary cot. The force wracked his body in a terrible vibration until his screams mixed into horrifying pain-filled sobs.

The son of Poseidon was shaking violently while tears streamed out of the corner of his eyes. Sweat matted his hair to his forehead. Annabeth had covered her mouth and looked away while crying harder than ever before, while Nico and Sally had once again taken grip of Percy's hands once again, tight enough to bruise his fingers. But the man's wails didn't cease, even as both healers held him down and chanted their spells, glowing with the blessing of their father. "Please, dear gods," Sally panicked between sobs, "Help!"

Nico was mentally screaming at his father and cursing all the rest of the immortals. Whatever caused his crush to experience so much pain deserved to rot in Tartarus forever. Every time Percy took a sharp breath only to scream again, Nico's felt like the organs in his chest were being clenched with a vice. He felt totally helpless, and it hit a point to where silent tears were finally flowing down his own face, mirroring Sally and Annabeth's.

Chiron had come into the room when Percy's fit had started, face weary and countenance looking over a thousand years old, which he technically was. His gray eyes flashed with a familiarized pain, and he closed his eyes as to calm himself. Nico felt sorry for him; it probably wasn't the first time that he had witnessed a hero in suffering, with all his years of teaching.

Suddenly a flash of light prompted everyone to squeeze their eyes shut. Nico and the other demigods immediately recognized it as the presence of a god appearing. He reached over Percy's trembling form and covered Sally's eyes. The aura he felt was vaguely powerful, even when he couldn't see.

"Sorry I'm late, folks." It was Apollo, and he sounded truly guilty, which was something rare for a god to express. Nico opened his eyes to see the Olympian dressed in a white button shirt and khaki shorts. He was wearing gold-rimmed Ray-Bans and his cheeks were smeared with vibrant red lipstick. The sun god winced sympathetically at the sound of Percy's suffering.

"Step away kids—and mother," Apollo warned as he took off his sunglasses and vanished them into thin air with a snap of his fingers.

Percy's hands were reluctantly let go. Will and Kayla were left panting as they stepped away to a corner of the room. Almost everyone was crying out of frustration or hopelessness as they watched the god of medicine start his work. Nobody wanted the hero to die, at least not so soon when they had just found him only mere hours ago.

Apollo went straight for Percy's left forearm, grabbing it with gentleness, but Percy didn't seem to think he was so gentle. The boy struggled in Apollo's grip as much as he could while in his excruciating pain. There was a mark on his inner forearm that none of them seemed to notice before: a tattoo of the letters SPQR, a trident, and four horizontal tallies. Nico squinted. It seemed like it had been _burned_ into the teen's skin, probably very painfully. And from the looks of it, it must've been there for a long while, from the slight fade it had on the edges.

An audible gasp came from Sally as she saw the tattoo, but Apollo didn't even glance at her. It was almost like the god had _expected_ the strange emblems to be on Percy's arm as he worked his magic. Rays of light flew out of his hands. It looked similar to his children's, but it was clearly stronger. The strings flew directly into Percy's tattoo that sucked them in like a black hole.

But if anything, the god's magic only seemed to make the pain much worse. Percy's yells had increased an octave, and now he was barely breathing between them. Apollo didn't seem surprised, and instead he made the light rays flow faster out of his two handed grip, causing the boy to finally cease his wails.

Percy gave a sharp sigh of relief and slowy, slowly blinked open his tired eyes. He was panting heavily from the energy he had used up, but at least he was _alive_. A similar unison of sighs heaved from everyone, including Apollo. Truth to be told, Nico didn't think he would make it, from what his powers were telling him earlier.

Percy's eyes had lost their previous vibrancy, reverting to a dull murky green. He looked warily around the room, eyes lighting with confusion and unfamiliarity as he saw everyone around him. Nico, who was standing back in his sad little corner, was the last person that Percy looked at.

When he saw him in his agonized, teary state, the older teen gave his signature lopsided grin and whispered, "Amore mio." His eyes filled with a vague understanding and tension left his body before he shut his eyes again and passed out. Nico suddenly started to shake like a leaf.

"Wait, what did he say?" Annabeth questioned desperately. Apollo chuckled and winked at Nico, completely ignoring Annabeth.

"Nico?" The blonde woman turned to the son of Hades, a desperate look in her stormy gray eyes. The boy didn't reply, instead focusing on keeping down his face down to a reasonable shade of pink and sat down on a nearby cot. Tears flowed faster down his cheeks, dripping off his chin and into his lap. He didn't bother to wipe them away like everyone else had with theirs.

"What just happened to him?" Will was the one who had asked the logical question on everyone else's minds.

"Eh, he just had a side effect from the travel. He went quite the distance, you know." Apollo said nonchalantly.

"Travel…? Where did he go?"

"You'll find out soon enough." The god winked at Nico again before announcing that he was leaving. Everyone closed their eyes as his godly aura filled the room.

In a fit of confusion, the healers, Annabeth, and Sally discussed what they would do next as Percy slept. Nico tuned them out. His mind swirled with repetitions of Percy's tired voice, repeating the same thing over and over. _Amore mio,_ he had said to him. _Amore mio, amore mio, amore mio. [My love.]_ Nico's face was tomato red, but no one cared enough about him to notice. Percy was probably just delusional with pain and said the first thing he thought of when he saw Nico. Yeah, maybe he had caught sight of an Italian magazine. Or something. Nico forced himself to focus on a different subject.

Chiron had gone silent, er, more silent than he originally was. The centaur was staring at the tattoo on Percy's arm with an unreadable expression. Before Nico had could say anything, Annabeth regained her usual serious composure and started to think, as shown by her deep frown and hard eyes. Nico almost thought he could hear the gears creaking inside her head.

"Where did it come from?" She inquired the teacher, referring to the branding on Percy's arm. It was kind of ridiculous, looking at a girl with smeared makeup and tear-stained cheeks glaring at an eight foot tall centaur. Chiron's demeanor didn't change. His stance was guarded, which was unusual when he addressed the daughter of Athena. To Nico, Annabeth and Chiron seemed like a father and daughter-like pair—and from the looks of it, he was right. Annabeth looked especially hurt (Well, more than she already was).

"My girl, this is something for you to figure out on your own. The gods have forbade me from interfering. I am deeply sorry." Chiron looked her directly in the eye, showing where he stood. Annabeth crumbled, disposition falling away again as she turned away from her mentor and to Percy. The teacher nodded, mostly to himself it seemed, and trotted quietly out of the room with an unsteady gait.

 

The next few minutes after that whole ordeal were filled with a combination of grumbling annoyance and heart-racing anxiety for the son of Hades. He had sent himself out immediately after Chiron, jogging quickly out of the Big House to avoid any further prodding questions from Annabeth and the others. The wine god was still snoring obnoxiously on the couch as he passed by, not disturbed at all by all the earlier commotion. But there was no doubt that Percy's screams could've echoed through parts of the entire camp. Chiron was nowhere to be seen in the living room. Nico hoped he had went outside to officially confirm Percy's arrival first; he didn't really need to be bombarded by all the Aphrodite kids or whatever to answer if Percy had gotten hotter or not. He wouldn't answer them anyway, but still. Luckily, or rather, unluckily, there was only one camper waiting for Nico when he stepped off the wooden porch. A tall demigod in all his blond haired and blue-eyed glory, the son of Jupiter, Jason Grace.

Nico grimaced slightly as he caught sight of the other man. Jason had always been a bit of a royal pain, with his overbearingly optimistic views on life and tendencies to ignore what the rest of the world thought. The demigod had arrived at camp a few weeks ago, coupled with two mischievous Greek demigods, Leo Valdez and Piper McLean. Nico favor them much either at first with their wild entrance to camp with Annabeth, but he soon found Piper's company to soothing at times, so it wasn't like he completely hated the trio. Maybe it was the charmspeak, or the Romans convincing him that their Praetor from the fifth cohort was an honest guy from their stories.

"Nico!" Jason exclaimed from his spot off the porch railing, standing up in his straight posture from his previous relaxed lean. "Is it true? Percy Jackson is here?" His short hair was a bit frizzy from the static electricity he gave off when he was excited.

Nico groaned quite miserably. After Jason had spotted him in Quebec while the son of Hades was tracking Percy, Nico had never gotten a break. The man had called him out while he was sneaking through the penthouse of Boreas, hiding behind a statue of a frozen man. Really, it was actually Leo who had heard him rustling around for the ambrosia in his bag, but Jason was the one who had pulled him out, only to realize that his leg had a nasty ice burn a few seconds later and considered him as a friend rather than an enemy.

Nico chalked it up to his weak first impression as to why Jason gained a mother-hen complex whenever he was around him. The son of Jupiter had nursed him back to health and offered to bring him back to camp (much to Leo and Piper's initial dismay) but he had curtly declined and left them, continuing his search. Percy had been more important. The only reason he had even been there that day of the Roman's arrival in the first place was because he was hoping to see Percy arriving on that chariot, not some trio of mismatched demigods who held nothing to the cause yet. He sympathized with Annabeth's frustration that day.

Jason had asked him why he didn't want to stay before he left them in Detroit. He didn't answer, mostly because he didn't really know himself. He did chalk it up to Percy's disappearance as his initial excuse, but deep down, he knew it was something else. Having someone care for him after so long gave him a weird feeling. But despite Jason's annoying habits, Nico sort of liked him. He was fun to mess with, just like Reyna had said.

After a moment, Nico nodded in response to Jason's inquiry a bit too bitterly as he passed by him, but the other teen didn't seem to notice his damp mood or sour expression, or at least not as much as he usually did. Nico was glad he had dried his tears before he walked out the door. The gods only knew what would happen if Jason Grace caught him crying. Nico could almost imagine it, Jason would freak out and try to hug him as a form of pitiful comfort, and then promptly be strangled by a skeleton. The boy continued at his fast paced jog, trying to shrug off Jason.

"That screaming, was that him too?" The elder teen didn't seem take the hint, instead using the air to propel himself to Nico and completely ignoring his cold body language. "Nico? Dude, hello!?" He waved a hand in front of the boy's face and almost smacked him when he didn't stop running.

Nico growled, stopping abruptly and turning to Jason as he slapped his hand away. "If you want to know so bad, go ask _Annabeth._ Just leave me alone, okay?"

He felt guilty for pouring out his feelings on Annabeth's name when she didn't deserve it, but his clouded mind held no conscience. Jason's lips turned downwards. His hair released itself of its static and straightened out as he tentatively placed a hand on Nico's shoulder, causing the younger to flinch away.

"Nico…?" Jason paused, hesitating before trying to physically comfort Nico again. This time, the younger didn't move away, only slouching his shoulders in defeat. "I…" He tried again. "Do you want to go talk somewhere?"

Ugh, always so chivalrous. Couldn't he just leave him alone? "No," Nico growled again, this time making the shadows darken threateningly around him. Jason raised his arms in defense.

"Alright. But I'm still here, you know." He left him alone, finally, and turned to the Big House. Nico sort of hoped he had kept trying, anything to distract him from Percy. It was too late to call him back now. Regret surged through him. Why couldn't he just be a regular person and just _do_ things normally?

Those negative feelings started to swirl inside him again. Images of Percy's green eyes, his smile, and his beautiful laugh flashed inside his mind. He felt disgusted with himself. But Percy, Percy had called him… _Amore_. Oh, he could have swooned if it were just the two of them. _Stop_. Stop stop stop. Nico started to sweat again, breath quickening. Percy probably didn't even know what he was saying. Last Nico checked, the son of Poseidon _didn't_ speak Italian. Delusional.

_Get a grip, di Angelo. He isn't a freak like you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The reason why Greek Percy had no side effect from being flung across the multi-verse is because he still has the Curse of Achilles.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment any mistakes, plot-holes, or inconsistencies that I may have made, or just leave your opinion down below. It would really help me improve my writing, and I would thoroughly appreciate it! My tumblr is inkkedalone, if you'd like to see any of my other content. Thank you for reading! <3


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